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Entry 391Filed under Breeding

Peacocks Do Mate: Why a Researcher Challenged the 2017 Tears Claim

A 2017 judge’s claim that peahens become pregnant by swallowing tears is not supported by science. Peafowl mate through copulation, and females choose among displaying males.
3-minute read By Animalso Team
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No: peacocks do not get peahens pregnant with tears. Peafowl reproduce by copulation, with the male transferring sperm into the female’s cloaca. In 2017, wildlife researcher Jessica Yorzinski called a judge’s contrary claim shocking and said it had no scientific validity.

What did the judge say, and why did a researcher call it shocking?

In June 2017, Rajasthan High Court judge Mahesh Chandra Sharma reportedly said that peacocks were lifelong celibates and that a peahen became pregnant by swallowing a peacock’s tears. The claim was not supported by scientific evidence.

Wildlife researcher Jessica Yorzinski, who said she had studied peafowl mating behaviour for ten years, responded: “Since I’ve been studying the mating behaviour of peafowl for the past ten years, it is definitely shocking to hear that statement.” She also said, “There is no scientific validity in the claim that peafowl do not copulate.” Scroll.in reported her comments in 2017.

How do peacocks and peahens mate?

Peafowl mate through ordinary avian copulation. Ornithologist Bikram Grewal told the Hindustan Times that the peacock reproduces by copulation. K. Sankar, then director of the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, explained that the male transfers sperm into the female’s cloaca.

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The cloaca is the shared opening through which birds pass reproductive products as well as waste. Tears are not involved in fertilization. The mating itself can be easy to miss: Sankar said it lasts only a few seconds and is observed much less often than the conspicuous courtship display.

Why do people notice the display more than mating?

A male peacock’s elaborate display is visible and prolonged compared with the brief act of copulation. That difference helps explain how a false story about tears might sound plausible to someone who has seen courtship but not mating. It does not change the reproductive mechanism: display is part of courtship, while sperm transfer occurs during copulation.

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How do peafowl choose mates?

Peafowl are described as a lekking species. Males establish display areas—sometimes scattered arenas, a pattern called an exploded lek—and show their feathers. Females visit and choose which male, if any, to mate with. Yorzinski said a peahen may mate with one male, with more than one male, or repeatedly with the same male in a season. A female can also decline: a peahen may avoid mating by not crouching when a male approaches. Yorzinski and K. R. Anoop describe this behaviour in their 2013 paper.

What peahens look at during courtship

In an eye-tracking study discussed in the 2017 interview, peahens directed their gaze toward a male’s legs and the base of his tail rather than mainly toward his head or bright feathers. This finding identifies where their gaze was directed in that study; it does not establish that plumage is irrelevant to courtship.

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What did the copulation-call study find?

Yorzinski and Anoop’s peer-reviewed 2013 paper, “Peacock copulation calls attract distant females,” tested playback of male copulation calls with wild and captive peafowl. Females approached and spent more time near speakers broadcasting copulation calls than near speakers playing control sounds, supporting the conclusion that the calls attract potential female mating partners.

The wild trials took place in July and August 2011 at Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. The paper’s estimate of more than 500 peafowl refers to the likely population in that park, based on density estimates—not to peafowl generally.

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How the claim differs from the evidence

Question Reported claim Scientific account
Do peacocks mate? The 2017 judicial remark described peacocks as celibate. Experts and peafowl research describe copulation.
How does fertilization happen? The remark attributed pregnancy to a peahen swallowing tears. The male transfers sperm into the female’s cloaca.
What determines mating? The tears story leaves out mate choice. Males display at lekking areas; females choose whether and whom to mate with.
What is most conspicuous? The claim treats an unusual explanation as reproduction. The display is conspicuous; copulation lasts only a few seconds, according to Sankar.

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